Silver Ore
by Darkingfire
Summary: Before you can have a pure metal, you have ore. These are oneshots all based before and during the Silver Millennium. These are the origins of the Serenity in Return of the Queen. May not be chronological.
1. In the Beginning

The first time she opened her eyes, she was floating in an endless sea of darkness.

Panic suffused a corner of her mind, but the emotion was thick and slow. She could feel her eyes widen slightly, but her breathing didn't pick up, and the strangely anticipated rush of adrenaline never appeared.

She closed her eyes again, and dreamed.

She dreamed that she floated in an endless sea of darkness for an eternity, and missed the sensation she knew as light.

She dreamed that minute pinpricks of colour began to bloom. Tiny at first, but growing in size and intensity until the light could have cut, it was so sharp.

She dreamed of worlds and civilizations rising into greatness and venturing out into the darkness, searching for more light.

She dreamed of wars, and pain, and hatred, and all the lives destroyed by the simple lack of empathy those that ruled had for those that didn't.

And as she dreamed, tears streamed down her face.

They were tears of joy, and tears of sorrow, and anger, and empathy, and pure, absolute love for all that she dreamed.

The tears ran down her cheeks, and off her chin, and pooled, floating in midair in a small, wobbling ball of salt water.

And when the tears stopped, and the watery orb solidified, blue eyes opened once again, and she looked out unto the endless cosmos and smiled.

And then she fell.

They found her on the planet Thesta; a white haired little girl wandering barefoot through the wavewash on the beach near the Jurian Embassy. They questioned her, and upon finding that she had no parents to look after her, took her to the Thestian Royal academy to join the other orphans. She would be well looked after there, and guaranteed a career in the military once she came of age.

She found that she didn't mind the academy, though what she remembered from her life before seemed to indicate a more peaceful mindset than they usually encouraged.

Her name, given to her by the intake officer on duty at the time the Jurians had turned her in, seemed to be something of a running joke in the barracks, but within a few months Serenity found herself quite liking the appellation and scowling as ferociously as she could at those who would mock it when there were no officers around to discipline them for breaking ranks.

It wasn't until she'd given the worst of her tormenters an extremely prominent black eye (and taken the appropriate punishment for it,) that she made her first friend.

Setsuna would remain her best friend for the rest of her life.

Serenity barely noticed being encouraged into the Diplomacy Corps, though the field certainly seemed to be one that she would excel in.

For nine years the girl studied and trained at the Royal Academy, absorbing the classes on magic, diplomacy, and trade like a sponge. She was almost startled to be informed that the graduation for her age group would be held four days after the Final exam. As close as the medics could tell, that is when she would be seventeen, the most widely accepted age of adulthood among the scattered planets.

She and Setsuna had discussed the probability that they would be given different assignments for their mandatory service period and had reached the conclusion that they would be more likely to get an assignment together if they each specialized in different fields.

To that end, Serenity had become a military diplomat and Setsuna had gone with the standard starship officer training.

It was a gamble, and left the two of them without much time together, but if it paid off there would be plenty of time to spend with each other while they were deployed.

They were in luck; immediately after graduation the two were assigned as junior officers to the newest addition to Theta's fleet of starships, the H.M.S Agamemnon. The ship was a simple diplomatic vessel, dedicated to diplomatic missions. Essentially, it was a way for older officers to ease into retirement and for younger, green recruits to get used to being in space for extended periods of time.

While having little opportunity for promotion on the military side of things, Setsuna and Serenity never put in for a ship transfer, becoming two of the only crewmembers to remain on the Agami for their full five cycle mandatory service period.

Nothing called either of the two to remain on any of the planets they touched down on, so they simply remained on the ship, and before either of them realized it they had become the two ranking officers on the ship, with Setsuna the Captain and Serenity acting as her Second. Setsuna was the first to admit that Serenity was the only reason she had managed to retain her rank, since the other woman's quick wit and steady patience could easily sooth the hurt feelings or offended pride her own frequently acerbic manner caused.

In the tenth year of their service war broke out. The Agami was repurposed from a diplomatic vessel into a combination refugee transport/covert operations vessel; something neither of the women was particularly happy about. It wasn't until they received orders to infect their current cargo of cryo-sleeping refugees with a particularly nasty form of one of the deadlier diseases and deposit them on the nearest farming planet that they rebelled.

Only the seven officers present on the bridge at the time those orders had been given sided with the two women. The remaining crew were given the option of either being placed in cryo-sleep or airlocking themselves. Cryo-sleep was chosen unanimously, many of the crew under the impression that the ship would be recaptured quickly and they would be released and possibly commended for not siding with the traitors.

The cryotubes were ejected over the same planet that they had been given orders to infect. Serenity was even reasonably sure that most of them made it safely to the surface.

With barely enough people to form a skeleton crew for a ship the size of the Agami, they fled into subspace, allowing the main charting system to plot them a course far out of the Thestian Alliance and into was marked as 'wild space'. Space that was part of no alliance, and had no planets worth colonizing for resources since they were too far out of the way. All that was left after that was to wait, and so they did.

Much of the time there was little that was necessary for the nine person crew to do, and so a schedule was created that allowed for a rotation into and out of cryo-sleep that still left at least three people awake in case of emergencies. The Agamemnon's automated systems could take care of anything they couldn't, for the most part.

Serenity was in cryo-sleep when they dropped out of subspace, but Setsuna was awake and had the systems rouse the other sleeping officers. When they got to the bridge, the five sleepers were greeted with a holographic display of the galaxy nearest to their exit point, a standard barred spiral.

"Systems indicate that there are multiple habitable or semi-habitable worlds in the nearest arm of the galaxy alone." Rika Columa, the navigation officer, reported. "It looks like this system has one inhabited planet already."

The hologram zoomed in to showcase a yellow dwarf star and its satellites; eleven in all, not counting the moons that most of the planets had in attendance.

"It's also the system with the most satellites and the best projected chance of success of terraforming any of the currently sub-habitable planets."

"Any idea the tech level of the inhabited planet?" the question was a deep rumble, and Rika glanced over at the powerfully built head of Security before turning to the Communications bay and the slender woman who manned those controls.

"I'm not sure." Usually excitable, most of the blue haired woman's pep had been sucked away by several years in subspace, leaving behind a coolly efficient woman that Serenity truly worried about. "We've got wave readings heading up and down the spectrum, all emanating from the planet, but they don't seem to have been too interested in exploring beyond their own atmosphere. It seems like they're under the impression that they are the only life in the universe."

Several snorts greeted that statement and a rueful smile broke out on Sela's face as she nodded. "I know. That was my reaction too."

Setsuna carefully hid her own smile and gestured back to the hologram. "So the other habitable planets? Where are they?"

The hologram zoomed back out and several other spots lit up with coloured dots as a list of environmental factors popped up to one side, the text coloured to correspond to the planet it represented.

Setsuna made her way to her friend's side as the others fell to debating the pros and cons of each possible site, a small frown playing about her mouth as she scanned the list herself.

"Thoughts?"

"We can't produce the level of tech we're used to on our own, even with the three thousand refugees we've got frozen in the hold. Even with the Agami's capabilities, it will take us a while to get everything up to even a minimum of comfort." Serenity's voice was distant, and Setsuna knew that if she looked at her friend's blue eyes they would be clouded as she ran calculations and processed what plans were or were not viable.

"So..." Setsuna prodded after a few moments, and Serenity came back to herself with a brief start.

"Our best bet would be to try to colonize one of the planets closest to the currently inhabited satellite. If we can form an alliance with that planet's government, then its moon might be even better to settle on, if only to cut down on the time it would take to ship resources back and forth." She paused for a moment, her frown deepening. "Alternately, we could try to colonize one of the uninhabited planets that is similar in type to Thesta, but we would definitely be starting from scratch there and it would be a two week round trip from the closest habitable planet to this one if we chose to open up negotiations."

"Either way, we'll need to get on this planet's good side?" Setsuna's voice was slightly sceptical. "We're one ship. We're one ship with no resources of our own. This is not going to be a negotiation between equals."

Serenity was silent for a moment longer, then her voice cut across the debate that was still proceeding about the possible colonization of one of the more distant planets.

"Sela, what would you say the average population of inhabited planet is?"

The blue haired slip of a woman paused for a second, obviously startled by the seemingly random question. "Something like nine billion, Counsellor."

Serenity nodded, her face serenely impassive as she turned to the Science Officer. "Can you tell us how many people a planet of that size can reasonably support please, Doctor Quintas?"

The man peered at her for a moment as comprehension dawned on the other seven faces on the bridge, then the hologram zoomed in on the inhabited planet and a scrolling information bar appeared next to the slowly rotating sphere.

It took him a few minutes of muttering and some scribbled calculations on a separate screen before he turned back to her, his mud brown eyes respectful.

"A planet that size can only reasonably support ten billion people. Possibly ten and a half if all available land is converted to farmland and the entire population converts to vegetarianism."

"So we have a starship that has been retrofitted to keep up to four thousand people at a time in cryo-sleep, a planet that is dangerously close to overpopulation, and several empty planets that are just waiting to be terraformed."

Serenity's face very easily could have been favourably compared to the cat that ate the canary right at that moment.

"Plus there're a few moons orbiting the gas giants that are almost as big as the inhabited planet!" Rika interjected, her face brightening as she realized the potential of the idea.

It took them days to finish hashing out the details of the plan, and Serenity took another week after that to study the general political atmosphere of the planet. By the time they were ready to try opening a channel, Serenity was having second thoughts.

A planet with not just one, but several main governments? How did they get anything done? Still, it reassured the others; telling them that the crew of the Agami did indeed have things to offer the blue and brown planet below.

Serenity wasn't so sure. But it had been her idea in the first place, and so as the ranking Diplomatic Officer and second in command she would present herself as calmly and professionally as she knew how.

Serenity spent hours poring over the frequencies used most often by the governments of the planet they were planning on contacting, discarding one government after another as too warlike, or too small to be of any use to them.

Eventually she settled on one government, referred to by its citizens as the Golden Kingdom. Hopefully they would be open to an alliance of some sort.

As the time for first contact drew closer and closer, she became more and more nervous, until finally Setsuna showed up at her door, a bundle of ice blue cloth so pale it was almost white draped over her arm.

"Come on." the green haired woman commanded, pushing her way past Serenity and into the room. "You're going to wear this when we send out the communiqué."

Serenity let the door slide shut and followed her friend over to the bed, peering at the fabric curiously.

"What is it?"

"A dress." Setsuna dumped the bundle on the bed and stepped back, "According to the research that Sela's done, to these people white indicates purity, or innocence. You're going to wear this as a kind of-"

Serenity cut her off with a sigh. "Subconscious signal. I get it. Damn... With my hair the way it is, I'm going to look like a ghost."

Setsuna shrugged, "Either way, we managed to hack a replicator to make it, so put it on. We've delayed long enough."

Groaning, Serenity shucked her standard issue diplomat's tunic and pants and pulled the dress over her head, tugging it down and pulling her starlight pale hair out from where the dress had pinned it down.

"You aren't going to make me put it in that ridiculous hair style, are you?" She asked, a tinge of petulance shading her voice as Setsuna paced around her, tugging here and there to make sure the dress hung properly.

Setsuna paused, "Now that you mention it..."

"Setsy no!"

"It's the official diplomat's style! If you're going to be in diplomatic talks with these people, then as an Ambassador of Thesta, you need to do things right."

"We're not even in the Thestian military anymore! We deserted! And I was never an Ambassador!" Serenity whirled to stare at her friend, who stared hard at her for a moment before making a twisting grab motion at her.

"No! Dammit Setsuna!"

Strands of Serenity's glistening silver hair lifted on their own, spinning and twisting around each other to form two small buns on either side of her head, with the ends trailing out in long tails that ended just above her elbows.

"We might be able to go home when the war is done." Setsuna said firmly, "I don't want your career to be tarnished any more than it already is."

Glowering, Serenity turned on her heel and stalked out of the sleeping area and into the bathing room. Much as she'd love to take her revenge on her friend, Setsuna was still on duty as the Captain at the moment. But when she went off duty... ooooh she was going to get it.

Still, Serenity thought, examining herself in the mirror, Setsuna had done a good job with the spell, and the dress brought out low lights in her hair that she'd not been aware of before.

Tinges of the palest blue seemed to run through her hair, as well as the dress, and it made it look like the dress had been specifically made for her, rather than just punched up on a replicator.

Shrugging, Serenity stepped back out of the bathing room and strode towards the door, shooting her superior an annoyed glance as she went.

"We won't be able to go home." She said as the door opened and Setsuna moved to follow her, "Thesta is going to die, and the Jurians aren't going to care enough about one missing cargo ship to try to find out what happened to it. You know how it was going. Don't hold out hope."

Setsuna paused midstride, watching Serenity stride towards the bridge with the white dress swirling around her like a living entity.

AN-

This takes place before the dawn of the Silver Millennium, obviously.

Hope you enjoyed it.

More may or may not be forthcoming.

Darkingfire


	2. Return of the Queen

Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

Her guardians. Her champions. Her best friends. Her daughters in truth, and in all but blood. And now they were dead.

She knew what she needed to do, and knew what her advisors would assume. She looked near dead as it was, and none of the others who had taken the throne during her sabbatical could even come close to using the full power of the Ginzuishou. It was her own Kernel, after all, and even the Guardians couldn't utilize a Kernel without first filtering it through their Star Seed.

Talia had been close to figuring out how to utilize the solar kernel without a fully developed Star Seed before she'd gone mad. Apparently some thought that if a science geek could do it, then so could they.

Her lips lifted into a grim smile. Two of the most heedless had quickly burned themselves out, trying to access the powers of the nearest Kernels without even bothering to set up a power shunts on the 'off' chance they couldn't handle the power.

Where two planets had previously swung in a carefully maintained single orbit, there was now an asteroid belt.

With a weary sigh, she shook herself back into the present staring with dead eyes at the destruction around her before finally catching the eyes of the two Mau that were watching her carefully.

"Your Majesty, what are you doing?" black fur was no longer neatly groomed, and patches of char showed how close Luna had had to get to the fires burning throughout the Lunar palace just to reach her Empress. Artemis looked no better, and she took a moment to pet each of them briefly, running a hand glowing with healing magic over them before turning back to her self appointed task.

"Talia isn't destroyed. I know the timeline, and I know that my daughter will need to face Beryl and Talia in the future. I have sealed them and their forces into a pocket dimension that will hopefully last long enough for you to find Serenity in the future and train her."

Artemis looked worried, his blue eyes dark as he looked up at her. "Serenity the Younger is dead, your Majesty." the reminder sent a brief jolt of pain through her heart, and she closed her eyes.

"There is a spell I can cast that will send all of their souls forward in time to be reborn. It will alter unsouled fetuses to better channel the link between the fully developed Star Seeds that accompany the soul and the Planetary Kernels that grant them the Guardian powers."

The Mau gaped at her for a moment, then Luna sat down abruptly, staring up at her monarch with crimson eyes.

"And the Shadow Warriors? Trapped they might very well be, but they won't stay that way forever, will they?"

Serenity the Elder shook her head, "They won't stay sealed forever, no. Even the Ginzuishou can't hold all seven of them indefinitely. The shards of the Crystal will embed themselves in seven different souls and go through the reincarnation cycle as many times as possible. This should allow those souls to siphon off and purify enough of the Shadow Warriors' energy that they will be easily defeatable by the Guardians should they break free. If they don't break free then the energy siphon will eventually kill them and all that will be left are seven ordinary souls."

Luna and Artemis nodded, relief that the monsters that had decimated much of the Silver Empire were even now being drained of their dark energy. They watched with worried eyes as their Empress raised her crescent moon topped staff and began to glow.

"When I complete this spell the wards holding in the atmosphere will fall. You two will need to be in a pair of cryotubes so that you can guide the Guardians when they are reborn."

"But your Majes-" Artemis began, only to be cut off firmly.

"No buts. I no longer have need of your services, and thus I pass my daughter into your care. I am sure you will perform admirably."

Hurt flashed across the two feline faces, and Serenity glanced down at them, her blue eyes soft as they turned as one and raced back into the palace to the emergency area where the cryotubes and escape pads were kept.

One by one, seven crystals of different colours rose into the air, slowly followed by nine different coloured Star Seeds, each containing the soul and memories of the Guardian it belonged to. Sixteen crystals formed a circle of rainbow light that swirled and pulsed with the promise of great power, and Serenity smiled, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

"May we meet again, daughters of my heart." she whispered, and nine of the crystals blinked out of existence as the remaining seven shot towards the blue and green oasis that was just starting to rise above the lunar horizon.

As the crystals disappeared from sight there was a sharp rushing sound as the ward dome collapsed, letting all the air and moisture out into the vacuum of space.

Pluto, Guardian of the Gates of Time and last remaining member of the Guardians of the Silver Empire sobbed hoarsely as she watched moon dust swirl in the rush of air caused by the fall of the ward dome; the dust storm obscured the view of the palace for a moment, and she turned away, allowing the Gates to black out into quiescence.

Crumpling to the floor, Pluto curled in on herself and was lost to misery.

"Ah!" Ikuko Tsukino smiled happily at the platinum haired woman who had poked her head into the room, "Come in! Come in! It's been so long Auntie Seiko! How are you?"

The other woman smiled broadly and stepped into the room, closing the door gently behind herself.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question, Ikuko-chan?" She inquired, "You are, after all, the one who just brought the newest member of our family into the world."

Ikuko flushed slightly, and gestured at a bassinette that was just out of reach of the bed. "She's in there, but I can't reach and I'm not supposed to get out of bed. Would you...?"

Ikuko self consciously tucked her sweat bedraggled hair behind her ears as Seiko crossed the room and gently lifted a bundle out of the bassinette, cradling it to herself as if the contents were made of glass.

"Have you and Kenji picked a name yet?" she asked, blue eyes fixed on the tufts of golden hair that peeked out of the wrapped blankets.

"Usagi. Her name is Usagi." Ikuko said, and Seiko smiled gently, handing the slowly rousing infant to the woman in the bed.

"That is a beautiful name."

Ikuko stared down at her newborn daughter, a soft smile lingering in the corners of her mouth.

Seiko made to leave, and Ikuko's head shot up, suddenly reminded of the other woman's presence.

"Will you teach her, please? The same way you taught me?"

Seiko's eyebrows lifted. "I thought Kenji-"

"Kenji would be dead if I hadn't kept in practice with shields." Ikuko cut her off, "He has recently come to see the error of his ways in rejecting our heritage so completely and agreed to leave her training to you."

Seiko's eyes narrowed. "You were attacked?"

Ikuko shook her head. "There was a car accident. If I hadn't snapped up a shield, he would have been crushed. As it was, the paramedics couldn't figure out why there was nothing wrong with him."

Seiko relaxed, "I see. And shall I be refreshing your memory as well?"

"No. Thank you Auntie, but I never really had much of a gift for magic, aside from shields, and in all honesty, I don't think that will change."

Seiko nodded slowly. "All right then, if that is your wish, I'll teach Usagi."

Ikuko spent the next few weeks wondering if the visit from her clan head had been some sort of drug induced dream, and indeed, after a while she simply forgot about the entire exchange. She hadn't seen Seiko since her own wedding, when Kenji had called the woman a witch and told her to stay away from his family, and Seiko had done so.

Ikuko was surprised that they hadn't been removed from the clan register, although her mother had reassured her that their names still remained, and that little Usagi had been added. Still, it was a relief to know that if anything happened to her and Kenji that Usagi would be taken care of. Seiko never had been one to let orphans of the clan fend for themselves.

It wasn't until Usagi's first birthday that Ikuko, opening the last of the presents addressed to the toddler, remembered the conversation she had had with Seiko on the day Usagi had been born. Staring down at the object in the box she had just unwrapped, Ikuko recounted the conversation to her husband, who looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"Are you sure that's the wisest idea, dear? I mean, who knows what sort of things that woman could be consorting with? What if she hurts Usagi?"

Ikuko stared at him, jaw slightly open. "You can't be serious. Seiko-sama taught me everything I know about shielding, and never once was I harmed. She would never hurt a child, and she would never, ever consort with demons or whatever it is you think she bargained with to get her power!"

Ikuko took a deep breath, setting aside the box and looking directly at her husband. "Seiko teaches magic to any of our clan who ask and have the slightest bit of ability, but the first thing she tells her students is her most important rule, and I know that she has enforced it. If you ever, ever use her teachings to aid, abet, contract with, or summon dark forces, she will hunt you down, banish whatever it is you called up (if it hasn't eaten you already), and give you a choice. She will either kill you or strip you of every vestige of power you have managed to accumulate throughout her teaching and every bit of magical knowledge you've gained, leaving you with nothing but the knowledge that you knew something amazing once, and lost it through your own idiocy."

Kenji looked slightly shaken. "How...?"

Ikuko shook her head "Nobody knows how. She just... does. And really, that's a good thing. As it is, magic users sort of police each other. If the government had to get involved, there would be all sorts of laws and restrictions laid down about who could practise, and how, and all kinds of things that would just about kill it. So, we keep each other sane, and the government very politely looks the other way when it comes to certain disappearances."

"That's... rather disturbing..." Kenji said, eying his wife as if she might suddenly turn on him.

"It's just the way things are. And really, everyone seems to be happy this way, so there's no real reason to change. It's not like there's actually that many magic users out there, after all. Only a few thousand worldwide, and most of those are relatively low level at that."

Kenji nodded slowly, then glanced at the box Ikuko had set aside. "So is that some sort of magical whatchamacallit for our little girl?"

Ikuko laughed, "Oh no, she's much too young. Seiko will most likely wait until she's eight or nine. This is just a bedtime story that she thought Usa-chan might like."

Each subsequent year found some small gift for Usagi from the clan head, and the girl grew eager to meet the person who would one day teach her the magic her mama could only show her glimpses of.

Groaning softly, Seiko Heiwa, head of the Heiwa family, massaged her temples. Why her great-great-great-grandniece had decided to apply for her new husband's adoption into the clan, she would never know.

Actually, Seiko knew already. The clan had a history of taking care of its own, as well as letting its members do, for the most part, as they pleased. If someone got married outside the clan, they could petition for their new spouse and any children that spouse already had to be adopted into the clan. It happened often enough, and Seiko really didn't have a problem with it, but she was beginning to have a hard time making sure that nothing slipped through the cracks.

The clan had many secrets, and many relics that were part of its long history. Ensuring that nothing was leaked to any one of the multitude of conspiracy groups that existed was a headache and a half in and of itself. Keeping the relics out of the greedy paws of thieves and archaeologists alike was worse.

A thought occurred to her, and she smiled delightedly. Of course. She was almost due for her next sabbatical, and taking one a few years early wouldn't hurt anything... and besides, she'd have years before Ikuko's daughter was old enough to learn magic. As long as she remembered to return before the girl was ten, Seiko could take a nice long vacation.

Rationalizations done, a Seiko shaped tornado tore through the house, looking for everything she'd need to make the simulacrum that would run things for her until she returned.

It wasn't until Seiko heard something about the 'Sailor Scouts' on the news that she realized exactly how much time had passed and flew into a panic, calling the simulacra that she'd left at the main house to find out if it had done anything about the promise she'd made Ikuko.

Fortunately, it had gone to see the girl, Usagi, on her tenth birthday to find out if she had any aptitude or interest. It told Seiko that though the girl had incredible magical potential, she had been completely uninterested in learning magic from her. It had discussed the situation with Ikuko, and they had agreed that she would come back in a few years to see if Usagi had changed her mind.

Seiko sagged in relief. She could still keep the promise, and Usagi wouldn't know that she hadn't been there.

Three days later found Seiko moving in to the apartment she'd bought in the Azabu-Juuban district of the Minato ward. It was fairly spacious, and the single bedroom looked out over a surprisingly large park that she was sure would work for Usagi's magic lessons if she could find a secluded enough area.

So, abandoning the half decorated apartment, Seiko headed down to the park.

She didn't expect to find too large an area to work with, but even a small area that was easily overlooked would be good enough, at least until Usagi began offensive magic. Plotting what she might teach Ikuko's daughter, Seiko barely paid any attention to where she was going until she stumbled over a dark blue cloak that was haphazardly tossed across the path.

Pulled from her musings, she suddenly became aware of shouting and crashes, with the occasional crack of what seemed like thunder, or the ground shaking slightly.

It couldn't be though... there was no way she was this lucky.

Seiko peeked around a tree, and saw a small clearing that was in the process of being perfectly trashed by six girls in seifuku who were trying to fight a slightly alien looking woman in a bright red dress.

Trying appeared to be the operative word, as two of the fighters were currently being squeezed to death by strips of bright red cloth that had separated itself from the alien woman's dress, while two more stood off to one side, discussing the floating crystal that one held.

The remaining two were hovering protectively over a brown haired girl that sprawled limply on the ground.

Seiko watched for a moment, trying to get an idea of what was going on as the pig-tailed blond begged the other women for the crystal. Her eyes narrowed. So that's how it was. That was not acceptable.

She watched as the taller woman threw the crystal to the blond, who, with the help of her blue haired friend, dragged the limp girl out of sight.

Seiko's eyes narrowed further. If the situation was as it seemed, then something was terribly wrong. There was no reason for the Guardians to not be working together. If two of the Protectors of the Far Reaches had decided that they were better off without the leadership and guidance of the Home Guard... Well then. She'd just have to re-educate them.

Carefully, Seiko drew power to herself, doing her best not to interfere with the webs of power she could see draped around the Guardians. It was slow going until a lightning blast hit the alien woman, freezing her in place long enough for the pig-tailed blond to charge up an enormous spell and blast her with it.

Seiko gladly siphoned off the extra power and watched with mild surprise as the alien turned into a purple scarf.

That had been unexpected.

But, watching as the lightning thrower, Jupiter, if she recalled correctly, shouted at the woman who'd thrown the crystal, Seiko wondered how they would handle this.

Just as Jupiter threw herself at the other woman, murder in her eyes, Seiko stepped around the tree and slammed her hands together.

A thunderous crack echoed through the park, and a shockwave blasted out from her, encompassing all the others in the clearing and wrapping them in personal shields that would keep them from leaving or attacking each other.

"Enough." She said firmly once the shockwave had passed, and had to hide an amused smile at the dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Wha-?" The pigtailed blond was the first to speak, and Seiko turned to look at her, her own blue eyes calmly amused while the other fought down panic.

"Queen Serenity?"

Seiko had to hand it to the girl, she was definitely quick. "Yes?"

Uproar.

"That's impos-"

"No way!"

"I don't believe th-

"How can y-"

Only the two Guardians that had stood apart remained silent, and Seiko could see the wheels turning behind their eyes.

"Enough." She said again, and the younger women fell silent. "Suffice to say, I was never actually dead. I had seen a future that I thought I could not divert, and thus felt I had no choice but to allow. Time has shown Us that fate is not immutable, and so We have returned to change what else We have seen."

Seiko glanced around, hiding the mild irritation that came from having accidentally slipped into such a formal mode of speaking after trying so hard for so long to try to learn to speak normally.

"Who are you really?" The black haired girl in the red seifuku spoke up, her voice harsh and Seiko arched an eyebrow at her.

"You kno-"

"Queen Serenity died on the moon fourteen thousand years ago." the girl actually cut her off. Seiko was amused; Mars always had been a bit less tolerant than other people. "There is no way that you lived for that long. It's impossible."

"As impossible as throwing lightning? Or summoning ice? Or monsters that turn into scarves?" Seiko asked mildly, and the girl had the grace to look slightly abashed.

"She looks just like her." The blond with the red bow in her hair spoke up now, "Artemis showed me some of the moon kingdom when I was younger... She looks just like Queen Serenity did, except with her hair is black."

Jupiter turned to the quietest member of their group. "Sailor Moon? Is she...?"

The blond in pigtails took a hesitant step forward, stopping just shy of the shield boundary.

"...Mother?"

Seiko tilted her head to one side just barely, and smiled softly. "Hello again Daughter. I've missed you."

"I still don't believe you." The sandy blond woman spoke firmly, and Seiko barely glanced at her.

"Then let us prove it to you."

Carefully, Seiko stepped back motioning for the girls to step back as well as she moved their shields a good ten feet or so away from her.

Lifting her hands away from her sides, Seiko closed her eyes and began to speak, drawing on the power of the Ginzuishou as much as she could without having direct contact with it.

"We are Serenity the Elder, Empress of the Silver Millennium Empire, and Queen of the Lunar Kingdom. By Our right as Monarch, We call upon the throne to release to Us the symbol of Our right to rule. We willingly retake that which We were relinquished, and once more resume Our place amongst the stars."

Softly at first, a wind began to blow, whipping Seiko's long black tresses around as a glowing shape materialized in her right hand. As the wind grew stronger, so too did the glow, until it was so blindingly bright that the girls had to shield their eyes.

When it died away and they could look back, the short woman in jeans and a tee shirt was gone, leaving in her place a, still short, woman with platinum hair that practically glowed, in a shimmering white gown that held just the barest tint of blue. Slender, pixie-like wings unfolded from her back and she stared at them with calm blue eyes as she leaned slightly on the crescent moon topped ivory staff, daring them to challenge her now.

"Now. We-" she paused for a moment, a flash of irritation flickering through her eyes before she continued. "_I_ would very much like to know what is going on here. You," she pointed at the woman with sea green hair that almost perfectly matched her skirt, "can begin."

"No."

Seiko, still trying to keep from returning to the mindset that she'd spent millennia burying, glared at the defiant woman in front of her and made a snap decision.

"You are Neptune?" she asked, pointing at the woman, and didn't wait for acknowledgement past the fear flickering in her eyes. "Uranus?" she looked at the sandy blond woman.

"Mars?" This girl nodded, clearly convinced of Seiko's identity now.

"Jupiter." The tall brunet actually spoke up, introducing herself instead of waiting for Seiko to guess.

"Mercury." The blue haired girl followed suit.

"Venus!" Seiko took a moment to watch the peppy blond consideringly, then nodded and turned her attention to the last girl.

"Moon." Seiko wondered about the scared defiance in her reincarnated daughter's eyes, but put that aside for the moment and focused her eyes on the strings of power that bound the Guardians to the Silver Millennium throne.

"Pluto, you are Called to appear before your Monarch. Saturn, you are Required."

Two soft pops sounded from the centre of the clearing, and everyone looked at the figures that had appeared.

One, a woman in her prime with the darkest green hair imaginable. The other, a girl, perhaps a year or two younger than the Home Guard, with purple hair and scared eyes.

"What's going on!" She cried, and then moaned softly and half sat, half collapsed onto the ground as the summoning activated her latent Senshi abilities, transforming her for the first time.

"Oh dear." Seiko hadn't considered that. Considering the fact that all the other guardians had been awake, she'd simply assumed that the last two had been as well. And taking into account the taint she could feel coming from this girl's Star Seed, this might not have been her best idea.

Acting quickly, she wrapped the girl in the strongest shielding she could think of, then put her to sleep with a soft suggestion. Barring anything else unforeseen, she would stay asleep for a good twelve hours.

Minor emergency taken care of, Seiko turned to the wide ruby coloured eyes of Pluto.

"Hello again Setsy darling."

"Dead Scream."

Seiko stepped to one side, reaching out to the glowing pink ball of death and hooking it on the tip of the crescent moon on her staff, flicking it up into the sky to detonate harmlessly.

"Yes, I missed you too."

Three more Dead Screams followed the first, and Seiko was hard pressed to both avoid them, and keep them from hitting the unconscious girl she'd placed behind herself.

"Would it help if I apologized?" She called, hooking an extremely wild shot off course and flinging it back at the woman who was whispering a near constant stream of 'Dead Screams'.

Pluto was so focused on attacking that she didn't even notice the return shot until it hit her in the stomach and exploded against the seifuku's warding, throwing her backwards through one tree and into a second.

The girls, each in their own protective shield, were stunned. They'd never seen anything like the ferocity of the green haired woman's attacks, and the way Serenity had just... it had been almost too incredible for words.

"Now." Seiko was beginning to regret ever having stepped out from behind her tree in the first place as she advanced on the crumpled form of the Guardian of Pluto. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Damn your Majesty," The other woman coughed, planting her own staff into the ground and hauling herself to her feet. "I'd forgotten how hard you hit."

"That was all you dear," Seiko replied, watching Pluto warily as she dusted herself off. "Though I am pleased. You've improved a great deal."

"With nothing to do but sit at the Time Gates for fourteen thousand years, I had better have."

Seiko paled. "You were- but- Oh my- Oh Setsy, I'm so sorry! I thought- but of course I didn't- and then you- and they- Oh god..."

Pluto watched Serenity stammer for a few more moments before relenting and pulling the other woman into a hug. "It's fine Senny. I forgive you. I rescued a cryotube before Saturn followed her final orders, so if it got too bad I would sleep for a while."

Seiko relaxed a bit, then pulled away and gestured back toward the clearing. "I need your help clearing some things up, if you don't mind."

Pluto nodded, gesturing for Serenity to precede her.

It was only a few steps, yet somehow in the time they'd been gone Venus had acquired a bowl of popcorn and was sitting comfortably on the cleanest patch of grass she could find, munching contentedly while Moon whined at her to share.

Seiko was stunned. This was the daughter who'd been withdrawn to the point of antisocial with anyone other than family? The daughter who many of the nobles thought was mute, because they'd never heard her speak?

Perhaps there had been some merit to her consort's idea of raising the child on another planet, away from the pressures of court.

She noticed sadly that the second the girl spotted her, she clammed up tensing minutely as Seiko passed her to stand across from where the active scouts were, Pluto moving to stand in the centre of the clearing, facing her directly.

Seiko watched her for a moment, her face impassive. Then, "Guardian of Pluto, please give me a summarized version of what has happened since the first Guardians reactivated."

Pluto braced herself for a moment, then launched into a rundown of everything that had happened to the Home Guard since Venus had awakened.

As things got more and more dangerous in the telling, Seiko couldn't help but send Moon a couple of concerned glances, but each time she was met by cool blue eyes that seemed to dare her to challenge the decision the girl had made. And indeed, Seiko found that she couldn't.

For the information and training she had, the girl had done admirably.

It wasn't until Pluto got the point where she was explaining what Neptune and Uranus had been looking for, and how, that Seiko actually interrupted.

"Excuse me?" she demanded, whirling on the two suddenly on edge Guardians, "You were going to _kill_ someone, to get at the talismans, which are, in fact, under the guardianship of your respective planets, so that you could summon a _holy artefact_, with no thought that _perhaps_ that _might_ taint the artefact in question?"

The two looked confused, and Seiko groaned softly, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Lesson one in magic; if you want a pure, good result, involving unwilling subjects is the surest way to either fail or pervert the result. Talia is a great example of that."

"Talia?" Mercury asked, her fingers flying across the keyboard of the Mercury computer, and Seiko glanced at her,

"Metalia, I mean. Her name was originally Talia. She was a Science Officer aboard the ship we arrived in. She was attempting to harness the Kernel of the Sun to create a Solar Guardian, as well as a way to live on the surface. Unfortunately, the reluctance of many of her test subjects caused the magic to twist her mind and she went mad. She became Metalia, and I was not strong enough to kill her. She had been a good friend, unfortunately. But that's beside the point."

She rounded on the Protectors. "You two would have had just as much chance as summoning a demon of incredible strength as the 'Sovereign' you were looking for if you had gone about it that way. Not to mention the fact that you wouldn't have found them."

Uranus bristled, "And why's that?"

"Because you _already had them_."

Uranus gaped at her, and Seiko turned away, thoroughly irritated now.

"Continue please." She prompted Pluto, who shrugged.

"That's when you stepped in, your Majesty."

"I assume that since you haven't told them you hold the third Talisman that you had your own plans running alongside these?"

Pluto looked shamefaced. "Yes, your Majesty."

"And those would be...?"

So Pluto told her all about Crystal Tokyo, and what she'd had to do to ensure that it would come about.

Seiko was disgusted.

"So instead of allowing humanity to proceed on its own, in a possibly entirely new direction, you've been behind the scenes nudging things along to recreate the Silver Millennium, complete with all the issues that came with."

Pluto's eyes flashed. "What else was I to do!? If I brought about the next Silver Millennium, then there would be a new queen! One who could release me from my cursed duty! I would finally be able to move on and join everyone from before!"

Seiko stilled. "Is that truly what you want? To die? To leave behind the Heir, and her Guard, without any possible foreknowledge of the dangers that will threaten them?"

Pluto paused, and Seiko pushed on ruthlessly, "You want to leave me too? Allow the undying to lose yet another of her closest friends to, not the ravages of time or war, but a choice? You will do this because you want to, yes? You have your queen before you now then. Make your request."

Pluto hesitated for a moment, staring at the ice statue that was her queen, before shaking her head silently and stepping back, falling into ranks with the other girls in the clearing.

Seiko thawed slightly. "The necessity for you to remain at your post at all times is no longer there." She said softly, "Simply check on the Gates as needed, and I am sure all will be well."

Pluto nodded silently, clutching her staff tightly as Seiko turned to the unconscious girl, lifting her with a spell as her own staff vanished back to where it had come.

"You can go now," Seiko said, glancing at them all disinterestedly. "If you need me, I live in that building. I'll leave signs only for you to see that will lead you to my apartment."

"You've been living there the whole time?!" Mars demanded, outrage in her voice, and Seiko laughed, a tinge of bitterness in the sound.

"No. I had forgotten an obligation, and moved here to fulfil it. I just got here today."

With an idle gesture, Seiko and Saturn vanished, tearing down the warding spells that kept the seven other females in the clearing and away from each other at the same time.

AN-

Yes, I know that originally this episode did not occur in a park. Yes, I know it's a bit hard to follow. No, it is not likely that I will continue this.

I always thought how weird it was that the Seven Shadow Warriors were essentially the Dark Kingdom's shock troops during the fall of the Silver Millennium, but somehow they were beaten by a slip of a girl, possibly her friends, and a tiny bit of magic. This has my explanation for how that actually works.

I am still working on In the Interest of Change and Hide and Seek. This was merely a test to see if my wrist could handle a lot of typing all at once. Also, I'm stuck on both of them.

This has not been Beta-ed at all, so let me know if you find any glaring errors. (Demitri doesn't 'do' Sailor Moon.) ^_^

Thanks for reading!

Darkingfire.


	3. Saturn and Serenity

Seiko was in the middle of lifting the taint from Saturn's Star Seed when someone knocked softly at her door.

"It's open Setsuna, come on in."

For a moment nothing happened, then the front door clicked open and Setsuna Meioh stepped into the room.

"Your Imperial Majesty," The woman started, and Seiko scoffed, cutting the green haired woman off.

"Don't even start. I hardly deserve that title anymore, especially not from you, who has more reason than anyone to call me by my first name. Besides, I highly doubt that the empire is in one piece any longer."

"You reclaimed the throne." Setsuna pointed out, and Seiko sighed, glancing sidelong at the purple haired Guardian lying on her couch.

"True. But there is nothing to rule. I am a Queen in name only, and that can be dangerous."

The two women were quiet for a moment, then Seiko visibly shook herself.

"So what was it you were wanting Setsy? If you're starting with 'Your Imperial Majesty', I hardly think this is a social call."

Setsuna smiled wryly. "It's not. I needed to explain to you some things that I couldn't say in front of the girls."

Seiko arched an eyebrow. "Do you mind if I work on Saturn whilst you talk? I'd rather not keep her in stasis too long."

"Oh no, please do. She's currently being possessed by the pseudo-lover of Pharaoh 90, and is trying to open a gateway for it to come through to devour this world."

"Got a name for this pseudo-lover?"

"Mistress 9."

"Got it. Anyway, so what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Sailors Uranus and Neptune."

"Oh?"

Setsuna took a deep breath. "The civilian forms of Uranus and Neptune went through a few hardships before I could find them to awaken them. These hardships left them bitter and cold, and when I awakened them, they clung to the 'soldier' part of their duties with a worrying fanaticism. As the two found out what they were up against, they repeatedly agreed that to team up with the Home Guard, or Inner Sailors, as they are now called, would be to their detriment. Scanning forward on their personal timelines revealed that they will attempt to kill each and every one of the Home Guard at least once, including Princess Serenity, and will abandon their posts to join with Chaos sometime in the next four years. I determined that the easiest way to prevent these scenarios from coming to pass was to not inform them of their ability to summon the talismans from their own core. As fanatical as the two are, they would have killed themselves in order to retrieve the talismans, even though no one else could have used them until another Neptune and Uranus was appointed."

Seiko hmmed thoughtfully, not pausing as she cleared the taint of possession from Saturn's Star Seed. "What is the likelihood of the scenarios you have seen coming to pass?"

"99.71%, Majesty."

"I see." The iciness in Seiko's voice made Setsuna shiver, and she remained quiet as her platinum blond queen straightened up.

Without turning around, Seiko spoke softly, her voice heavy with sadness as she spoke.

"Guardian of the Sky and Air, Sailor Uranus. You have been found guilty of breaking the treaties that bind our Empire together. We have seen the evidence laid before Us, and We judge that you have not acted in good faith toward the leaders of the Guardians, or our Daughter. Because of your youth, We shall be lenient. Because of the severity of your crimes, We shall be harsh. No longer shall you answer to the title of Sailor Uranus, or Guardian of the Sky and Air. We revoke the privilege of your power."

Orange light had gathered in front of Seiko at her first sentence, and only grown stronger since, until at the last word, it coalesced into a henshin stick and a necklace with a bright orange pendant.

With a soft sigh and a flick of her fingers, the two items vanished, and Seiko repeated the process for Sailor Neptune.

Another henshin rod, this one a pale teal, and a necklace with a pendant of the same colour appeared before her before vanishing the same way the orange ones had.

"Does that work?" she asked, glancing over at Setsuna, who was pale.

"I didn't know you could do that." She said softly, and Seiko sighed.

"After the total cock-up that happened after my first sabbatical, I had to do something. There was all that infighting, and the Empire was on the verge of collapse. The Guardian positions were being used as favours, and I couldn't allow that to continue. Guardians were there to protect the realm, not the interests of the highest bidder. When the new Guardians were appointed, I added a failsafe. The Kernels know the laws and treaties, and so all I have to do is present the evidence to them. If the magic itself finds the evidence to be true, then both the Kernels and the Star Seeds will leave the Guardian, reducing them to a simple mortal once again." she sighed. "Although now I have to find two new outer Guardians."

Setsuna winced in sympathy. "I am sorry about that. I just... they were going to betray Serenity. And try to kill all the girls. I couldn't just let that happen."

Seiko sighed and sat down next to Saturn's feet. "I know. I just wish they could have been a little less, 'the end justifies the means.' That never ends well for anyone." she paused for a moment, then brightened. "Would you like to help?"

"Help find the new girls?" Setsuna asked, and Seiko nodded, "I don't see why not."

"Great!" Seiko cheered, "And now that Saturn's better, she can help too!"

Setsuna sighed and sank into a nearby armchair motioning Seiko to get on with it.

With a cheeky grin, the platinum blond moved to kneel on the floor next to Saturn's head.

"Saturn. Saturn sweetie, it's time to wake up!" she called softly, shaking the girl gently.

With a moan the girl tried to roll over, but Seiko quickly stopped her. "No sweetie, you'll fall off the couch. Come on though, it's time to wake up."

Grumbling softly, the girl reached up with one hand, scrubbing at her eyes as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Kaolinite?" she yawned, "What's going on?"

Setsuna swore softly and vanished, leaving Seiko and Saturn alone together.

Seiko chuckled. "I'm not Kaolinite." she said, "My name is Seiko Heiwa."

"Oh." the girl blinked a few times, then looked around the apartment, her dusky purple eyes confused. "Where am I?"

"In my apartment." Seiko replied. "I'm afraid I made a mistake, and that affected you. Can you tell me your name?"

"Hotaru Tomoe."

"Well Hotaru-chan, what do you know about the Sailor Scouts?"

Hotaru looked startled by the seeming non-sequiter. "Kaolinite says that they are meddling fools who don't know the power they're messing with. The news says that the two newest scouts are a menace and have possibly killed three people through inaction, and that the original five should be brought up on charges for not controlling them better."

Seiko hmmed thoughtfully. "What do you think about them?"

Hotaru hesitated. "I think that the original five, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus are nice. They save people from monsters and it looks like they always do their best. I'd like to meet them, just to say thank you. The new ones... they scare me. They have cold eyes, and from things that are on the news, they don't act anything like the real Sailor Scouts. Why are you asking me about them?"

Seiko smiled slightly, and proceeded to tell the girl about the Silver Millennium Empire and the Empress who had ruled it. She explained about the corruption that had run rampant during the Empress' absence, and the measures she had taken on her return. Hotaru listened raptly to the story, her eyes wide as she took in what the platinum haired woman was saying.

"So the Sailor Scouts are all princesses?" She asked once the story had wound down.

"Yes." Seiko smothered a laugh at that. Trust a fourteen year old girl to fixate on the princess part.

"And there's one for each planet of the solar system?"

Seiko shook her head at that. "Yes, and no. The method for creating Sailor Scouts was spread far throughout the Empire. Because this solar system was the seat of the Empire's power, Sailor Scouts would come here to present petitions or cases to the Empress on behalf of their government. When Talia when mad, all Scouts were deployed back to their home world in an attempt to bolster each planet's military defenses."

"Oh." Hotaru looked thoughtful for a moment, staring into space as she thought. "So why tell me all this? I'm just a kid. A freaky kid, too."

Seiko scoffed. "You are one of the most magically powerful beings on this planet. You are not freaky."

Hotaru's eyebrows rose. "You're kidding me. I thought the Sailor Scouts were the... oh."

She glanced down at her lap, then did a double take at the sight of the ruffled purple miniskirt. "You're joking."

"No joke." Seiko said seriously. "I made a mistake earlier today when I came across the Home Guard, what you would call the Inner Scouts, fighting against the Protectors of the Far Reaches. Sailors Neptune and Uranus. I assumed that both you and Sailor Pluto would be awakened in your powers, and summoned you to me. For that, I apologize. Now, however, you have a choice. You can take up the mantle of Sailor Saturn, The Guardian of Life, Death, and Rebirth, or you can forsake this calling and go back to being a normal child. I will remove the Kernel and Star Seed from you, as I did with Uranus and Neptune, and find another to carry on the legacy."

Hotaru's eyes were wide. "Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune quit?"

"No." Seiko said simply, "They were found guilty of high treason and conspiracy to commit Regicide. I removed their powers."

Now Hotaru looked stunned. Regicide? Murder!?

"Can I have... a few days to think about it?"

"Unfortunately," a new voice cut in, "You can't."

Seiko twisted in the armchair she'd been sitting in, looking up at the tan woman with green hair that had appeared out of thin air behind her. "What do you mean Setsuna, of course she can!"

"No, Senny. She can't. Professor Souichi Tomoe, Hotaru's father, is the one that's been creating the Daimon eggs to extract the pure heart crystals. I went and scanned back through his past, and... well... Professor Tomoe has been dead for the last six years."

Hotaru gasped, staring in disbelief at the woman in front of her. "That's a lie!"

"It's not. A being called Germatoid came through a minor rift in the dimensional walls that was caused by the lightning strike that killed your mother. Germatoid proceeded to possess your father and suppress his personality until it was erased. Souichi Tomoe is dead."

"You're lying! Papa isn't dead!" Tears stood out in Hotaru's eyes as she shook her head.

"Hotaru, sweetie, think about it. After the accident did your dad act the same? Or did he change?" Seiko's eyes were gentle as she tried to get the girl to think.

Hotaru scrubbed at her eyes with her gloved hands, sniffing hard. "He... he started bringing Kaolinite over to watch me... and we never went out anymore. But Mama had just died! It's perfectly reasonable!"

Seiko nodded. "It is reasonable to be sad when someone dies; no one is saying it's not. Did you start having gaps in your memory after the accident?"

Hesitantly, Hotaru nodded. "Papa said that I was hurt really badly. He had to fix me, and sometimes the fixes break and I have seizures."

Setsuna frowned. "The fixes break?"

Hotaru nodded again, rolling down the glove on her right arm. "Like this."

Carefully, the purple haired girl grasped her right hand with the left and, before either of the two women realized her intent, twisted sharply, turning the appendage almost completely around before pulling it off.

Seiko was stunned. Instead of blood and bone there was metal and wires that lead from the girl's arm to her hand. The fingers wiggled in a parody of a wave.

"Papa said told Kaolinite that this was the only way to save my life after the accident, but it makes me sick a lot because my immune system keeps thinking that the ports are bad for me."

Seiko was on her feet and by the girl's side in an instant, her hand glowing faint silver as she examined Hotaru's arm.

"Well, your immune system is not wrong. The ports are bad for you. They're made with a metal that is toxic to humans as it degrades. Fortunately you've been unconsciously tapping the power of Saturn's Kernel this whole time to heal yourself, so it hasn't killed you yet. I suspect that that weakness is also what allowed you to be possessed."

"I'm not possessed!" Hotaru yelped, jumping from her seat and fumbling to reattach her hand.

"Not anymore." Setsuna said, and Seiko waved at Hotaru to sit back down.

"You were, but now you aren't. That's kind of part of my job, after all. The Guardians protect the Queen, the Queen protects the Guardians."

The calm manner in which the platinum haired woman delivered that statement was more effective that anything in calming Hotaru, and she flopped bonelessly back down onto the couch.

"What?" she asked weakly, "You? You're the Empress? Queen Serenity?"

Seiko smiled at her. "I was. And as of about two hours ago, I am again, yes."

"Oh wow." Hotaru was stunned. "So... papa's really gone?"

Seiko nodded silently.

"And I was possessed? What by?"

"A being known as Mistress 9. She was giving Germatoid and Kaolinite orders on how to pave the way for a ravenous entity called Pharaoh 90 to enter this dimension and consume everything in it. Eventually she would have taken over your body and crushed your consciousness into oblivion the same way Germatoid did with your father." Setsuna said quietly.

"Oh. Well that's bad."

"You aren't possessed any more though." Seiko reminded her helpfully, and Hotaru sighed.

"Well that's good then." she was silent for a few minutes, then, "I can't go home again, can I."

"No." Setsuna said firmly. "Kaolinite and Germatoid would more than likely notice a difference in a matter of hours, after which you would probably be killed."

Hotaru paled. "But Papa-"

"Germatoid is not your father." Seiko said firmly. "In all likelihood, any kindness you were shown by that body since roughly three weeks after the accident was merely Germatoid doing his best to suck up to Mistress 9."

"But-"

"No, Hotaru." Seiko said again, and softened at the tears that welled up in the girl's eyes. "I'm sorry, but he _is_ dead. I don't want you to die just because you are no longer of any use to the being that inhabits his body."

For a moment Hotaru wavered, then she threw herself at her Queen, tears running down her face as she sobbed.

Seiko caught her easily and glanced over at Setsuna.

Want me to bring the other girls around? Hotaru could use some company her own age. Setsuna's mental voice was hesitant, and Seiko was honestly surprised that the telepathy was actually understandable. With no one to practice with in fourteen thousand years, she was surprised that Setsuna even remembered the ability.

Still, Seiko nodded slightly to her, hopefully still, best friend, and curled herself around the ball Hotaru had curled herself into on Seiko's lap.

Setsuna smiled slightly at the sight, then vanished.

Seiko had just begun to walk Hotaru through the mechanics of powering up and down when a girl with short blue hair and equally blue eyes knocked on the door to the apartment. She was the first to arrive and Seiko had to admire her bravery in coming to an unknown location without either backup or being in her Guardian Form.

Then again, Seiko had had all the Guardians at her mercy before and done nothing. Perhaps the girl was simply confident that Seiko was who she said she was? Either way, it was painfully obvious both that the girl was incredibly shy and that she was Sailor Mercury.

Seiko promptly introduced Hotaru and herself, and smiled as the girl bowed politely and introduced herself as Ami Mizuno.

"Hotaru here is the potential Sailor Saturn. She hasn't decided if she wants to continue to be a Guardian." Seiko announced, and Ami gaped.

"What do you mean?" She asked, turning to Hotaru, "You have to be a Sailor Scout. We need you!"

"Not true." Seiko said firmly, raising her voice so that the girls could hear her from the kitchen. "Becoming a Guardian of the Empire is an entirely voluntary endeavor. She may not have had a choice before I showed up simply because there was no one to relinquish her powers _to_, but now that I'm here, you no longer _must_ serve. That's part of why I asked Pluto to gather all of you. I'm giving you options."

Seiko grinned at Ami's stunned silence as she finished making tea and carried it out into the living room.

"As I mentioned before, I knew the rough outline of the timeline that would follow the downfall of the Empire at Metalia and Beryl's hands. I thought that that timeline was something that _must_ be followed. Events since have proven me _more_ that wrong. As such, I'm here to begin to make amends. That starts with giving you the opportunity to cease being a ... Sailor Scout, as well as training in magic if you decide to continue."

Ami sipped her tea, thinking furiously in the silence that followed Seiko's announcement.

"What happens if we quit?" Ami asked, and just as Seiko opened her mouth to reply, someone knocked on the door.

"I'll answer that when everyone else gets here." She said as she hurried to open the door, "I think you'll all have similar questions."


End file.
